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CHAPTER XVIII.

Coasting Trade-Domestic Commercė.

Too little attention has hitherto been devoted to the domestic commerce of nations, the coasting trade, and all that branch of the internal exchange of labour, which in fact makes up the real wealth of a nation." This neglect, of one of the primary sources of comfort, and industry, is owing to the same cause that has depressed and depreciated the value and importance of labour; that cause is capital, monopoly, stock, paper credits, and what may justly, and emphatically be termed, the pride of occupation.

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Domestic commerce was, no doubt, long anterior to foreign trade. The primary exchanges of labour would be first, between different parts of the same country. One section would grow cotton, and another would manufacture it into cloth; and, it is probable, the equivalents passed for the raw material would be some kind of provision wanted by the cotton growers, as well as the return of the cotton, in the form of cloth, to be used for clothing. Nor would this domestic trade be less profitable than foreign commerce. The most opulent nation of the world, is supposed to be China; which, standing passive in regard to foreign trade, has become the most wealthy empire in the world, from the domestic commerce of the country, and the interchange of labour, between her different provinces.

Nothing is more calculated to stimulate industry,

than domestic trade. The proximity of the market, the short time occupied in the voyage, or transmission of labour, the little risk, the certainty of information touching the market, the quick returns obtained for ⚫ the labour, or merchandise, all conduce to make it more safe, as well as more profitable than foreign commerce. The profit of domestic trade, although directly not so great, by being repeated more frequently, becomes greater in the aggregate; and although fortunes are longer accumulating, they accumulate with more certainty. In the same manner, the increase to the wealth of a nation, although not so sudden, as in foreign commerce, yet the loss is not so great, so that all circumstances considered, it is better, and more lucrative than exotic trade. In fact, it is the mass of labour, that circulates within a country, which constitutes its real wealth, and not the amount of labour which is sent abroad on speculation; and which may return with 100 per cent. profit, or a total loss, and the chances are about equal.

By a domestic trade, the profit is sure to be on the side of the country; by a foreign commerce, you may pamper your rivals, and even place weapons in the hands of your enemy.

By domestic trade, the precious metals are sure to remain in the country, but a foreign commerce invariably carries them out, especially if the country has the balance of labour against it, or does not manufacture for herself.

Domestic commerce tends naturally, and unavoidably, to improve the face of a country, and bring the citizens into habits of intimacy and friendship, with a perfect knowledge of each other's wants, capacities, and dispositions, all of which tends to their happiness,

comfort, virtue, and independence. It leads to facilities of communication, improvement of roads, construction of canals, bridges, and all those machines of labour, and instruments of exchange, which make up the sum of wealth and civilization.

If simplicity of manners can be preserved in a people compatibly with their wealth and prosperity, it is preferable, because it tends more to the preservation of happiness, and freedom. Hence, the importation of foreign luxuries is not so much to be desired, as the consumption of home products, and the cultivation of domestic industry.

Foreign trade introduces foreign habits and customs, whence is generated that pernicious practice of absenteeship, which lures the capitalist of one country to spend his life in another, and abstract the labour of his native country, to dissipate it among foreigners.

Where diversity of occupations and variety of climate lead to the production of an equal variety of labour, a domestic commerce is quite as profitable, or even more so, than a foreign one; because the labour of the country all remains at home, and nothing is paid for foreign labour. It is a false idea, generated by luxury, which has attached so much importance to foreign commerce, and especially, in European countries, by the circumstance of decayed noblemen sometimes embarking in it, together with the immense capitals accumulated by merchants, which enabled them to loan great sums of money to kings, and to purchase titles, which they could not earn by their merit alone.

In truth, foreign trade is a very inconsiderable means of national prosperity, and is rather an adjunct of wealth, than an integral part. The great avenue to

riches, is home labour. It is this which gives vigour and stamina to all things. Take for example, the coal, iron, and other staples of Pennsylvania, or the cotton and rice of Georgia, or the sugar of Louisiana, or the cloths of cotton, and wool, of the eastern states, what a prodigious exchange of labour is here generated, to the common benefit and wealth of the country. Compare such a trade with the export of our money, to buy teas in China, or silks in France, and Italy, or cloths, and cambrics, and linens, in Great Britain and Germany. There can be no estimate of the superiority of a home trade, to such an unequal traffic in exotic labour.

The resources of a nation are multiplied by domestic commerce, in a ratio that forbids all comparison with the external. It augments population, promotes the settlement of desert tracts of land, causes smiling and happy villages to rise in all directions, inspirits industry, diffuses labour, equalizes fortunes, leads to the culture of the arts and sciences, and gives a spring of vigour and advancement, to the whole system of social happiness.

A steady home market for our products, is better than a fluctuating foreign one: the one is firm, constant, and unvaried, always giving employment to the same hands, and producing the same profit; the other is timid, variable, feverish, and uncertain as to employment, wages and profits.

The results of a prosperous home trade are palpably visible on the improved face of our country, within a few years. Since the stagnant condition of our foreign commerce, by which I mean its failure to increase with the increase of the country, and the consequent diversion of capital into inland commerce,

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manufactures, coasting trade, &c., the improved state of the nation in its internal wealth, is prodigious. Steamboat transmission, canals, rail roads, turnpikes, bridges &c. have shot up with a rapidity truly magical, and have led to consequences so great, as often to perplex the mind between reality and fiction.

Every improvement in a country which diminishes the labour, cost, and time. of transportation, is a real increase of wealth, besides, that it brings, as it were, the most remote places close together, an advantage in relation to trade, that is of great importance.

Every measure, therefore, which promises to add to domestic exchange of labour, ought to be scrupulously looked after, by a wise government, as embracing all the essential elements of wealth, happiness, virtue, and independence, and more especially in this country, so remote from all the nations of the old world, and so capable of developing all those sources of wealth, comfort, and independence, which make nations happy, without resorting to commerce with distant foreigners, on injurious or perilous terms.

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